Phillies MLR 5/23/17: Pivetta and Cozens power LHV to victory

Today’s Probables:

LHV: Mark Appel
REA: Brandon Leibrandt
CLR: Alberto Tirado
LWD: Ranger Suarez

Lehigh Valley 3, Indianapolis 1

Nick Pivetta - 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 9 K, 6 GB, 3 FB
Roman Quinn - 0 for 4
J.P. Crawford - 0 for 4, K
Jorge Alfaro - 0 for 2, R, BB, 2 K, HBP
Dylan Cozens - 2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI, K
Rhys Hoksins - 1 for 2, R, 2 BB, SB
Nick Williams - 1 for 4, SB

Nick Pivetta returns to AAA after his MLB stint and picks up right where he left off, winning his 4th game and lowering his ERA to 1.04 in 26 innings. I usually don’t note AAA relievers, but Hoby Milner pitched a ²⁄₃ scoreless inning last night and now has 16.1 innings of scoreless relief on the season. The lefty also sports a 14 to 2 K/BB ratio. The offense was outhit 7-5 last night, but the difference was Dylan Cozens 2-run HR in the 4th. That was Cozens 12th HR of the season, tying him with Rhys Hoskins for the team and league-lead. Nick Williams stole his 4th base and extended his hitting streak to 6 games.

Trenton 5, Reading 2

Shane Watson - 3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 6 GB, 1 FB
Scott Kingery - 1 for 4
Malquin Canelo - 0 for 4, R, K
Carlos Tocci - 1 for 4, K (outfield assist, 2B)
Andrew Pullin - 2 for 4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K
Harold Martinez - 1 for 4, 2B, 2 K
Chace Numata - 0 for 4, K
Kyle Martin - 0 for 4, K
Jiandido Tromp - 0 for 2, BB, K
Mitch Walding - 1 for 3, 2B, 2 K (throwing error)

Shane Watson has been pretty bad in 2017, as evidenced by this gamelog. Amazingly, his 5.71 ERA is only 3rd worst among Reading starters. Both Tyler Viza (6.94) and John Richy (6.14) have him beat, with Brandon Leibrandt (5.09) and Drew Anderson (5.26) not that far behind. It’s actually pretty astounding that the Fightins are 23-17. The offense didn’t have much going outside of Andrew Pullin’s solo HR in the 4th, his 10th HR of the season.

Florida 10, Clearwater 4 (May 22, completion of suspended game)
Clearwater 3, Florida 1 (May 23, 7 innings)

Franklyn Kilome - 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, BB, K, 3 GB, 1 FB
Cole Irvin - 3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, K, WP, 5 GB, 1 FB
Matt Hockenberry - 2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, BB, K, HR
Tyler Gilbert - 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, HR, 5 GB, 0 FB
Ranfi Casimiro - 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, BB, 5 K
Luke Leftwich - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K
Zach Coppola - 3 for 7, R, BB, 2 K
Mark Laird - 2 for 2, R, BB, SB
Cornelius Randolph - 2 for 6, R, BB, 3 K
Damek Tomscha - 3 for 7, 3 2B, 4 RBI, BB, K
Wilson Garcia - 0 for 5, K
Jose Pujols - 0 for 5, 4 K (outfield assist, home)
Jan Hernandez - 2 for 6, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 K
Drew Stankiewicz - 0 for 4, 2 K
Herlis Rodriguez - 0 for 2, BB
Austin Bossart - 2 for 4, RBI
Deivi Grullon - 1 for 3, HR, K
Grenny Cumana - 2 for 7, R, 2 K
Jonathan Guzman - 0 for 3, 3 K

Clearwater splits the unusual doubleheader. Franklyn Kilome had yet another start suspended due to bad weather, which is a shame because his start on Monday was actually trending pretty well! Cole Irvin resumed for the Threshers and was promptly obliterated. Irvin hasn’t been great in his last 3 starts, giving up 22 hits, 10 runs and 7 walks in 13 innings. In the second game, the Threshers threw out a trio of former starters to combine for the win. The offense got homers from Jan Hernandez (8) and Deivi Grullon (4).

Lakewood 3, Greensboro 2 (10 innings)

JoJo Romero - 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 8 GB, 2 FB
Mauricio Llovera - 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, WP
Tyler Hallead - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB
Daniel Brito - 0 for 4
Raul Rivas - 1 for 4, K
Mickey Moniak - 1 for 4, K, SB
Darick Hall - 0 for 4, 2 K, picked off
Brett Barbier - 2 for 4, HR, 2 K
Cord Sandberg - 1 for 4, 2B, 2 K (outfield assist, home)
Edgar Cabral - 1 for 4, 2B, 2 K
Luke Williams - 1 for 3, K
Carlos Duran - 1 for 2, R, 2B (fielding error)

JoJo Romero misses out on improving 3-1 on the season when Llovera allowed an inherited runner to score and tie the game in the 7th inning. In the 10th, Edgar Cabral led off the inning with a double (was replaced by David Martinelli as a pinch runner), then on a sacrifice bunt by Luke Williams the ball was thrown away, allowing Martinelli to score the walk-off run. The undersized first basemen Brett Barbier hit his first HR of the season and Mickey Moniak swiped his 5th bag.